Doc Savage fights some beastie on the cover of Doc Savage issue 7 from 1977

Iron Man 3 director Shane Black revealed a few nuggets from his next jaunt into comic-books – this time going right back to the birth of the genre with pulp adventurer Doc Savage.

Asked if the film would retain the 1930s setting, the director went one further, telling Collider, “We’re shooting it as though it’s in the ’30s, including all the Capra-esque elements of 1930s films like You Can’t Take It With You. The idea of ‘What if Jimmy Stewart were a stone-cold killer?’ basically. It’s that kind of combination which we enjoy.

“Doc Savage is a personal film to me. It’s a 1930s pulp character so it hasn’t been around for 75 years or so, but people if they’re introduced to it they’ll get to know, hopefully, what I came to love as a kid. I’ve read those series for 43 years and always wanted to figure out how to crack it.”